The present invention relates to an integrated circuit card provided with memory means storing service data relating to at least one service.
Such integrated circuit cards are now widely used. The present invention is intended to be used in multiple application authorization mechanisms. Examples of multiple application authorization mechanisms have been described before in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,690, WO-A-92/06451, EP-A-0,640,945, EP-A-0,644,513, WO-A-87/07060, EP-A-0,262,025 and EP-A-0,661,675.
These known multiple application authorization mechanisms share a direct memory access structure in which no directories and files are used. A common feature of the known mechanisms is to use a secret code to check whether a secure application module is allowed to access an application, indicated by a unique identifier, on the integrated circuit card. Whenever a secure application module wishes access to this application this secret code needs to be reproduced.
Since these known mechanisms do not use directories or file structures the presence of access tables on the integrated circuit cards is required. These access tables comprise several entries including the secret code for a predetermined application, the related memory locations on the integrated circuit card used for the predetermined application and the related access rights associated with the predetermined application such as, for example read/write rights, or a pin. Most importantly, a secret key is required to avoid disclosure of the secret code.
A disadvantage of the known mechanisms referred to above is that the access tables on the integrated circuit card occupy memory locations. Since nowadays an integrated circuit card only has about 8 kilobits of memory space available, this is a serious disadvantage.